Lecture on Zen and the Art of Formless Precepts

by FAU College of Arts and Letters | Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014

FAU's Department of History presents a lecture on "Zen and the Art of Formless Precepts in the Evolving Platform Sutra" on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 4 p.m., at the Wimberly Library, fifth floor, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus. The lecture will be presented by professor Morten Schlütter of the University of Iowa.

One hundred years ago, two expeditions crossed the Silk Road in western China in search of treasure. These expeditions were headed by Sir Aurel Stein of England and Paul Pelliot of France. At an oasis called Dunhuang, they made a fantastic discovery. Hidden in the secret chamber of a Buddhist cave was a lost library from 1,000 years ago. Today, scholars are still just scratching the surface of this discovery.

At the FAU lecture, Schlütter will discuss a chapter from his current book project on the most famous of all Zen texts, the Platform Sutra. The version of the sutra found in Dunhuang describes a ritual for the bestowal of formless precepts. These precepts are the natural moral compass that exists in all of us. In later editions of the sutra, the ritual side of this concept begins to be downplayed. Why this happens, and what this means for our understanding of Zen is the subject of Schlütter's fascinating lecture.

In addition to the lecture, there will be a special exhibit of rare books from FAU Special Collections. Did you know that the famous Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant, who is remembered on the U.S. $50 bill, went to China and met with members of the imperial family? A rare copy of this 19th century book that describes his journey will be on display before and after the lecture. This book and others from FAU's rare book collection represent a time capsule of what Stein and Pelliot would have read before embarking on their adventures on the Silk Road in 1901.

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